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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNearly 70 yrs old and voted for 1st time today
FRI OCT 19, 2012 AT 09:00 AM PDT
Nearly 70 yrs old and voted for 1st time today
by Olkate
I've never written a diary before, but I wanted to share my pride in my husband and what I hope his vote may represent. My husband of nearly 25 years voted for the first time today. He's on his way right now to drop off our ballots. My husband who has expressed nothing but disdain for politics in all the years we have been together. For my husband, family, work, friends and baseball...those were his priorities.
My husband started working at 15 in the seafood business here in Washington state. His first job was on the production line. Even when he had a management position, he still worked on his feet. Sometimes in Alaska he would work for 18-20 hours, catch 2-3 hours of sleep and be back into the plant to make sure things were set up for the next day. It's hard enough to work on your feet in any job. But add cold, wet rooms and concrete floors...it takes a toll.
So at 63 he took early retirement. He struggled with this decision and we discussed the financial ramifications and the personal ramifications for over a year. I'm quite a bit younger than my husband and we're not financially in a position for me to retire. But I knew and he knew he could not physically endure the pain anymore. He needed hip and knee replacement surgery. Had to have them. He worked for a company that would not allow him to take the time off to recover and know that his job would still be there when he was capable to go back to work. They had to offer him a job...just not his old job. So he retired and had his surgeries and is not in pain anymore. I am so grateful he no longer has to endure such pain. And I'm so grateful for the extra time we've been able to share because he is retired.
So now it's 6 years later and my husband asked how hard is it to register to vote? I hid my surprise (I was flabbergasted) and told him it was easy we could do it online. So he asked me to help him register. It was amazingly quick...took less than 5 minutes...and badda bing, my 69 year old spouse was registered to vote for the first time in his life.
...............
the rest:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/19/1146954/-Nearly-70-yrs-old-and-voted-for-1st-time-today
appleannie1
(5,069 posts)As a naturalized citizen I voted at the age of 18 for McGovern. Not voting until now????
gateley
(62,683 posts)SDjack
(1,448 posts)GulleyJimson
(107 posts)but I thought it a civic duty to be informed and to participate in the democratic process. Not interested enough to have ever voted the last 50 YEARS? I haven't voted in every presidential election and voted in far fewer local elections but to have never voted is incomprehensible to me. No, I'm not saying to make it mandatory to vote but ????
I just don't see the beauty in neglecting your civil right until near death.
gateley
(62,683 posts)more like him.
onecent
(6,096 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)mnhtnbb
(31,404 posts)on front page of Raleigh News & Observer today who proudly cast her ballot for
President Obama yesterday here in NC.
Pota Vallas, 104, of Raleigh, left, has her iPhone photo made with Irene Cadwell, 27, of Raleigh, the new voters project campus organizer with NCPIRG (North Carolina Public Interest Research Group) on Thursday, October 18, 2012 in front of the Talley Student Center on N.C. State University's campus. Vallas, who has voted in every small and major election since coming to the country from Greece in 1924, also wanted to sport a paper mustache.
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Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/10/18/2421528/voters-head-to-the-polls-in-droves.html#storylink=cpy
And, hopefully she's allowed to vote in Greek elections as well.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)when the fucking Republicans started taking over decades ago and started systematically dismantling anything and everything good about this country? He's just now realizing? WTF? I don't get people like this.
OldDem2012
(3,526 posts)...some folks just don't pay much attention to what's going on around them if their personal world experiences little or no change.
With the strongest GOP threat to SS, Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs we've ever seen, he's ready to play his part to protect his retirement and their current standard of living.
I say good for him, and I'm not going to blast him for not taking any previous interest.
LeftofObama
(4,243 posts)My mother voted for the first time 20 years ago at the age of 63. She voted for Bill Clinton. She never voted again until this year at the age of 83. She voted for President Obama. She never really had that much interest in politics but this year she is afraid that Robme will try to take her Medicare and Social Security.